Sonatrach, Algeria's state-owned oil and gas company, announced on Monday it had started gas production at two fields in the Berkine basin (the province of Ouargla in the east of the country).
The project is part of a Berkine South contract signed between Sonatrach and Italian energy company Eni, Algeria Press Service reported.
Daily production at the two fields will be 1 million cubic meters of gas per day, but by the end of the year the production capacity is planned to increase to 2 million cubic meters per day.
"These additional volumes, in addition to those produced from the two Berkine-North fields put into production in July, increase the volume of gas produced by Sonatrach-Eni and contribute to increasing the export of Algerian gas destined for the European market," Sonatrach stressed.
Founded in 1963, Sonatrach is the largest Algerian company and one of the major players in hydrocarbons on the African continent and in the Mediterranean region. The corporation is engaged in exploration and transportation of oil and natural gas, and is of great importance for the Algerian economy.
Eni has been operating in Algeria since the early 1980s.
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Photo: IlyaYurukin/PxHere
Based on materials from TASS